Taiwanese inventors have received international recognition for their creativities and brilliant works. In this year's ITEX held in Malaysia, Taiwan has grabbed a total of 56 gold medals, beating nearly 800 submissions worldwide.

Taiwanese inventors have once again swept the 2011 International Invention Innovation Technology Exhibition (ITEX) in Malaysia, grabbing 56 gold, 56 silver and 12 bronze medals.

Besides company representatives, many of the participating inventors are high school or college students.

Upon receiving the award, Chiu Cheng-wei, one of the gold winners, phoned his mother with tears to tell her the good news.

He received judges' praise with his automatic water replenishment device for potted plants, and the prize was extremely valuable to him.

Cheng-wei's father has cancer and his mother has to work hard to support the entire family.

However, in order to make his trip to Malaysia possible, Cheng-wei's mother borrowed 80,000 NT dollars just to help him realize his dream of participating in the exhibition.

Cheng-wei's invention was equipped with a chip, and was able to sense the moisture level of the soil of a potted plant, and later decide the amount of water it needs to collect from the air to nourish the plant.

Other creative inventions include the portable electronic weight scale, which allows travelers to avoid airline fees for overweight luggage, and the zipper that never gets stuck.

Another young talented inventor is the 10-year-old Deng Li-wei, who was the youngest recipient of gold in ITEX.

He invented a mini machine that dehydrates leftovers through the operation of centrifugal force.

Deng's father, who is also an inventor, said that children oftentimes have more creative ideas than adults do, and with some help, they can become great inventors too.

This year, Taiwan team won a total of 124 medals in the ITEX, and has impressed judges and participants from other countries with their out

Many companies have also proposed to buy patent rights from some of the Taiwanese inventors.